STRAWBERRY, PLUM, LEMON-LIME
8/12-9/23 2023
Opening Reception: 8/12 6-9 pm
Cleo the Gallery is pleased to present Strawberry, Plum, Lemon-Lime with work by Joshua Edward Bennett. This exhibition features a new exploration from Bennett into displayed material manipulation by the artist's hand in order to challenge past investigations of iconography.
As a starting point Bennett uses reference of visual corporate and sports’ identity branding to survey signage as art. The cartoon eyes present in the work, along with the sharp geometry in the various background compositions, flatten the imagery as would mass produced signage with their immediate contrast in colors. However these attributes are combined with a variety of textures to animate and combate the slick motif of typical signage. The work has veinging and rough terrain like something crawling underneath the skin. This creates an uneasy combination containing flat imagery enlivened by these irregularities.
Levity is also present at this unease as the cartooning of the eyes are collaged with chains, saws, and other signs. These tie to a budding visual vocabulary laced with bright colors, as referenced in the title of the entire exhibition. It is this vocabulary that is as innocent in its immediate detail to humor the audience as it is planted in possibility for deeper reflections. The leaving of ‘flaws’ in the material manipulation serves both of these considerations and is an antagonist to the aforementioned branding and signage inspirations.
Please join us for the opening reception on August 12th from 6-9 pm.
Joshua Edward Bennett lives in Nashville, TN and works between there and New Orleans, LA. He is currently the gallery manager at Tinney Contemporary in Nashville. He received his MFA from Tulane University in New Orleans, LA in 2019 with a concentration in Digital Arts. Bennett received his BFA in Painting and Drawing in 2006 at the University of Tennessee in Chattanooga, TN.
He has exhibited work in solo exhibitions at Good Children Gallery and Jonathan Ferrara Gallery in New Orleans, LA. His participation in numerous two-person and group exhibitions include Living Easy Where The Sun Doesn't Shine at BS Projects in Houston, TX, Sun Shines at Central Park Gallery in Los Angeles, CA in 2019, RE:TELL at the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center during their biennial in 2016 in Atlanta, GA, Nomadic Habitat (Hustleman), a group collaboration with Carlos Rolón at the New Orleans Museum of Art in New Orleans, LA in 2018, Jonald Dudd 2019 for NYC Design Week in New York City, NY in 2019, and Love Triangle at Deep Space Gallery in Jersey City, NJ also in 2019.
Bennett has been a contributing member of the artist-run space named Good Children Gallery since 2015.
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joshuaedwardbennett.com / @_nommo_
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Photos by Jasmine Hsu
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Budget​
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